We are the ODL Wannabees. That’s natenoy and vancem. Nate will start each eval with his unique thoughts and I will be commenting on his evaluations and the picks. This will be a point vs counter point format. I hope that you all enjoy it!

Note that the four numbers beside each player’s name represent the 3-season average draft position from ODL’s 40-42. The three numbers in () are the actual draft positions from 42,41,40 in that order. Since this is the first draft that the 12-13 players are available we may see some significant movement from a number of them (as is the case with Durant.) Also note, if player was selected in only one of last three ODL's then he will receive a 3-season ave of "NA", if selected twice then the ave will be for the two seasons he was selected.

Owner 1: 98average

Natenoy Take: LeBron James 2.7 (2-2-4); T Mac 66.3 (72-48-79); Wes Unseld 66.3 (91-49-59);LBJ is absolutely the player to take #1 overall in a $47mill cap league, it may be debatable to take Wilt #1 in a higher cap league, but here EVERY dollar counts, and the 12-13 LeBron does more than any other player in the sim for the salary. The RL and advanced stats for LBJ are off the chart, but they don’t even begin to tell the story of what you can do with him in the sim. (Note: LeBron deserves an extended write-up, so I’m posting a lot more about him below.) There are two things I REALLY like about adding T-Mac to LeBron: (1) T-Mac gives you a ton of possessions at a tov% below 10%, which helps to offset one of LeBron’s weaknesses and more importantly (2) in this league team’s will often have a sub-50D guard to go with a good defensive G, the engine will assign the best G on D to the highest usage player, which is T-Mac, so that 60% efg Lebron will now draw the weakest D guard for every game, that is a HUGE advantage and LeBron will be even more insane now. I also like Unseld as a solid rebounder with lots of minutes and low usage down low, so far so good in maximizing the LBJ advantage here.

Green is very solid at SF, Ray can board and assist but he is a serious FOUL MONSTER, I love what Farmar brings, very efficient and helps on assist %, not sure WTF A.J. Price ads other than bringing down the team D and efg.

Final Grade: Group #3: LeBron will be very, very good at this cap level but in the end I see at least 12 squads that are IMO better than this one as a whole, hence the group #3 ranking.

Lebron is the the best pick here at # 1. The 1213 season is so dominant in a $47 milion league that this pick is a no brainer. T Mac . . . heaven help us! All I could envision was the $52 Million draft league debacle by iccoachb last season when I saw this T Mac pick to run with Lebron. I get it that now the team has over 60 usage points at the guard positions at an average of about 55.5% EFG. But I can already tell that this will be a 19K minute unit that will contend for last place in its division when its all said and done. Much better complimentary players were available for Lebron than T Mac. Wes Unseld good rebounding, decent EFG%, fairly bad defense. It could have been a worse choice. Green is a great pick here. I love the effiecency at 11% OREB. I like the 80 defense version here. Ray adds rebounding decent defense and assists. I like this unit but the reliance on Lebron and T Mac to have big offensive games without much help will hurt a bit. My gut tells me that the max number of wins is a bit over 45. Farmar is a good 4 usage point back up to LeBron at PG. He had good EFG% and assists very well. His defense not so good. AJ Price is another 4 usage point back up guard. Again 4 usage points, okay assists behing McGrady, decent defense and doesn't turm the ball over or foul much. This experiment intrigues me but once the players all get below 90% effectiveness by the 40th game or so how good will the team be?

Since almost everyone uses the 66-67 Wilt that’s who I’ll assume you will use (check out notes below for a discussion about possibly using a different Wilt.) Basically Wilt fills the C position for a team for the entire 48mpg because he rarely sees any fatigue with his RL 3728 minutes and it’s highly unlikely for him to foul out with a .039 pf rate. Wilt gives you the FULL Package for the entire game, the only drawback is that with a salary over $12million he eats up 26.19% of your cap space so you have to be VERY careful the rest of the draft so not to end up without enough space to get 19,500 or so total minutes. Manage your cap correctly and this is a pick that can lead you to the title. To be honest, I was very disappointed with what Stockton gave me in the last ODL. His tov% is off the chart high and you need to have a solid ast% backup or the 12mpg Stockton is not on the court you will have issues. Wilt brings a very solid assist% as well, and this team has 60% ast on the floor right now if the best Wilt is used, meaning Wilt will likely shoot over 70% and the players that come later will also likely see an efg% bump. But turnovers will be an issue for this squad for sure if not managed for the rest of the draft. When logain ran is DDL league last summer I drafted a Stockton / Steve Nash backcourt and thought that it would be unstoppable. Although I did lose a close division race (I think to sly or nc) and finished 2nd in the division I got dumped in the playoffs before the finals. So, it wasn’t “unstoppable” but I didn’t have WILT either. My biggest issue with that squad will be a major issue for this one, since both Stockton and Nash have a tov% north of 20 this team is likely to lead the league in turnovers. But the good news is that this team is also on pace to have one of the lowest foul rates in the league and depending on what players join the squad could have an efg the likes of which have never been seen before in the ODL. The jury will remain out on this squad, until we see who is added and which Wilt is used. My own dream would be to try the 50ppg Wilt giving this team 48 minutes a game of guaranteed 8-point usage, I’d toss in a bunch of bottom usage tier players and watch as Wilt’s efg went from around 50 to 55 and he scored 45-50ppg, that would be the fun thing to try, but since the opportunity to compete for a title is likely here with the 18.5 usage “passing” Wilt, then it may not be the best move for Jhsukow, I’m VERY interested in seeing how this team rounds out.

As noted Dantley is not a good fit for this team or this league, sure he can shoot but his boards are weak and his low D Is not what you needed when you already have Nash, more low D from Laimbeer hurts as well, Aminu is a solid pick and elite on dreb at SG, Novak can shoot but does nothing else and is the final nail in the coffin for this team on D.

Final Grade: Group #4: It will be fun to see how well this team shoots the ball but this is one of the worst teams I’ve ever seen on D and rebounding is weak as well for this league.

Vancem Take: Wilt Chamberlain, John Stockton via trade, Steve Nash, Adrian Dantley, Bill Laimbeer, Al-Farouq Amini, Steve Novak.If you use the best season with the 68EFG% at 18.5 usage this pick is not the best choice for this league. Just too expensive and not enough offense. John Stockton: At first glance this looks like a steal. I love the combined EFG% along with close to 60% assists if the most expensive Wilt is used. What I don't like are all of the turnovers for 2 players with less than 4 usage points each. Plus, Stockton's terrible rebounding doesn't help. Most owners don't draft enough rebounds to help Wilt. A lot of usage and scoring is still needed. It is doubtful that an elite 55% EFG player at 4 usage points or better will be available at # 70. Who knows? This might be the genius trade of the draft when we look back at the season. Kudos for taking a risk that could really pay off. Nash makes this interesting. I like the idea in theory. Nash has great advanced numbers. However, a lot more scoring was needed and Nash's 23 usage and low amount of FTA's means that believe it or not this unit will struggle to score IMO. Dantley adds the needed scoring and usage. Other than that I really don't like this pick. This team looks like it will be beat on the boards by about 7 per game or so. Other than as a 10 minute backup at either SG or SF Dantley doesn't fit well in this league. Laimbeer is an okay pick in terms of usage, rebounding EFG%. He makes his FTAs but has 35 defense. Laimbeer + Dantley + Nash in the same starting lineup = poor defense as a unit. The idea was to shoot a higher EFG% than the opponents. The bad defense of these 3 will ensure that the opponents will shoot higher than their RL EFG%. Bad defense overall and low rebounding will really hurt this team. Al-Farouq adds defensive rebounding, low usage, low negative numbers and not terrible EFG% at this point in the draft. There were a ton of SFs left on the board but this may have been the only player that could have fit in salary wise so its not a bad pick here. Novak adds low usage a a lot of 3's made with high EFG% he can back up the SG position okay. As an SF Novak's rebounding is painful. Now if the evil plan is to actually use Stockton's 23 MPG 9798 season and have Nash back up Dantley af SG I kind of like that plan. This is not the worst team in the league but it won't be the best. Winning more that 35 games will be pushing it with this group.

Team’s with the Worm have been cold in the last few draft leagues prior to this season in the DH$52. I have him this season and am tied for the lead in my division after 39 games. IMO a good Rodman team makes sure to draft threes from the G positions, because you maximize Rodman’s value at SF, but other teams get threes from that position and you don’t. The Worm is a solid pick at #3. Billups is a great PG for this league with 80D, and high volume triples. Version selection is a matter of tradeoffs, higher ast% version comes with lower efg but also lower tov%, better shooting Billups turns the ball over way more and does not give you nearly the assists, but in terms of PG’s Billups is end of the 2nd worthy. Love is a very clean player that gives you great rebounding and a handful of triples for with a horrid D rating and a just adequate efg. The rebounding advantage is here for this squad, but if the higher ast% Billups is the version selected then better efg is needed the rest of the way. I really like the Zo pick here. Love needed D help and he got it with Zo. In this league with Zo and the Worm I don’t see Love’s D as being much of an issue now. Zo brings a high efg as well, does his fair share of fouling, but Love is so clean that this team can take that on. Very strong rebounding edge for this team now and the efg is on the rise. Looking like a serious playoff contender right now.

Very strong final three picks, Drummond is elite for 15mpg with his boards, D, and efg even if it is 1-point usage, I have used Anderson more than a few times as a backup PG, his A/T ratio is great, a little light on D but makes up for it with ast%, and Jones can be used as a high ast% backup or a solid long range bomber.

Final Grade: Group #2: One of the better rebounding teams in the league, multiple sub-50 D guys keeps this team just out of Group #1, but I don’t want this squad in my division.

Hard to argue against this pick but I like another dominating rebounder better. With so much good usage left in this draft for this league this is still an excellent choice. Billups is a good pick here. I prefer the 31 MPG season with a much better 2 point FG% number. Great assits, nice usage and plays a clean game. Love is a nice pick up here. Great rebounding, 23 usage, over 51% EFG and terrible defense for close to 35 mpg. And Love makes 3 pointers too. It feels to me like some higher EFG% offense is still needed for this to be a final 4 team but this is a very good start. Mourning adds the usage and high EFG% that was needed at about 35 MPG. I love the pick. Drummond is fine back up to Mourning except that his usage is just 1 usage point. This team is looking good but guards are needed and
who will Billups partner be? There's a ton of players left so we need to see what the 6th round holds. Anderson adds assists and I really like him as a back up in the one and only SIM season out of about 25 where his EFG% is over 51% and his assist % is over 32% so this was great snag to back up my favorite season of Billips and the 21.1% usage is also really great here. That was a masterful pick and that is why I do these evals. Doing the evals forces me to take a second look at certain player seasons that I have not known about or haven't checked out before because I have assumed that the player was no good. Damon Jones does 3 things extremely well: 1) Make a huge amount of 3's in 32 or so MPG, 2) Rarely turn the ball over and 3) Hardly ever foul. His 35 defense is very bad but not the worst for this league. But the team will get burned at times when certain opponents are lighting up Jones and Love. This is a playoff team that will put the hurt on spme people that's for sure.
Owner 4: skypilot

Teams with Kareem have been enjoying a lot of success in recent draft leagues. Pick the correct version and you will be seeing his name near or at the top of the leaderboard all season for both the scoring title and the MVP race. My personal draft board has a G ranked higher, but there is a tier after LBJ and Wilt that has exactly 5 players in it IMO, both Rodman and Kareem are on that short list and a team can make it work with any of the five, it’s more about team preference, and Kareem is worthy of the #4 slot. Sorry, but not a fan at all of Lanier in this league, especially in the 2nd round. His salary is way too high, his oreb% is way too low, and his low efg% gives you a guy down low that takes shots from Kareem and misses them. Plus Kareem gives you tons of minutes so Lanier as a backup C was not needed unless you are planning to use a higher D, fewer minutes version on Kareem. Drexler is a solid pick to recover from the Lanier selection. Strong all-around game, but still lower efg than Kareem, and IMO you have now added two guys will high usage that will take shots from Kareem at a lower efg. Not sure what pure PG’s will be left by the end of the 4th round that will give you what you need at this point.

A great pick. Rebounding is a bit low. But for about 46 mpg in this league the offense is extremely good. Lanier is a bad pick here. Why would you want a poor rebounding, 4 usage point center with a low EFG% to run with Kareem??? Lanier is about 96% effective at PF so all of his numbers get reduced as well. Drexler would be a great pick here if Lanier hadn't been picked. I prefer the 9495 season of Drexler for efficiency, a lot of thee's made etc. Edge at 24 t o25 mpg helpes here. The rebounding was needed at SF. Edge plays 85 defense but his EFG% is around 50 so the team is lacking in that area overall. Conley is an okay PG and probably deserves to be drafted but again his 49.7 EFG% doesn't help the team. The Lanier pick dooms the team with his low rebounding, low EFG% and usage that takes away from Kareem. Kukoc is fairly weak rebounding back up for Edge but he can score and assist well. He fiits nicely behind Drexler. McMillan is a very good defensive PG that will dish out dimes and add badly needed rebounds. The team defense is very good the negative numbers are low. I see 40 wins max for this team.

You can never go wrong with MJ and he offers a number of great seasons to pick from depending on how tight cap space is and how the players taken later fit with the different MJ options. Personally I would have taken MJ over Kareem and perhaps the Worm, but picks made this early in the draft also have a lot to do with the style an owner wants to try. One more thing about MJ, I believe he is the most likely player after LeBron and Wilt with the ability to help a team overcome any potentially deficient picks that come later in the draft. Great pick here and MJ is a very fun ride in this league. I also love the Mutumbo pick here, picking the correct version is a difficult choice and a decision I’d make when the rest of the team is complete. There is the 100D lower rebounding version or the lesser D elite rebounder. There are versions that offer a low pf/rate with a higher draw rate as well. But in terms of a great player to give MJ down low Mutumbo is awesome and a guy that should not have still been on the board at this point. Kemp is a foul monster but I love him with this pick. The 100D version is not quite as good at rebounding, but now you can optimize a balance of rebounding and D between Mutumbo and Kemp. Kemp also has some very strong efg seasons, adding these two bigs with MJ makes this one very, very scary team on D.

Vancem Take: Micheal Jordan, Dikembe Mutumbo, Shawn Kemp, Derek Harper, Voshan Leonard, James Posey, Chris Dudley.A really great pick here. Does everything at an excellent level except for shooting 3s. Probably best if used at the PG position in this league. But what do i know about the ODL? I've only played it 2 times and got knocked out before the conference finals both times. That's why I'm an ODL WannaBee! Mutumbo is a great choice here. Good defense, very good rebounding and good EFG% when he does shoot. Nice combo and team so far. Kemp is nice player for inside scoring. Great defense. But he fouls a ton. The team still has a lot of needs and good picks are still needed for this unit to contend. I love the Harper pick. More great defense, very good assists, low fouls and turnovers and he makes some 3's. This team might contend in the playoffs. Leonard has high EFG% and good usage to go with MJ when he's in the game. He makes a lot of 3's. MJ will challenge for the league scoring title. A pretty tough team so far. Posey is a nice very low usage player at SG with a lot of 3's made. As an SF his rebounding is a weakness especially on this team. Plus, he and Leonard are too similar in that way as far as the rebounding at SF goes. Dudley is a nice fit to backup Mutumbo. He rebounds well and plays decent defense. Dudley is a foul machine but almost every team has one in this league. If Kemp is out of the game and Dudley, Mutumbo and Posey are all in the game the usage will be too low even with Jordan playing. I can see this squad making the playoffs in the right division but not making it to the finals.

Not sure about “#1” Vance, but yes in a lower cap league Moses addresses so many team needs all by himself that an owner has numerous options later in the draft to build a near perfectly balanced team. We all need to “watch-out” now that Moses is in the hands of ash, I will be VERY interested watching how ash builds this squad off of Moses’ strengths. Well at least Porter’s tov% is only just below average at 14.74%. Great player to add with Moses, efg over 58%, plenty of assists, 130 triples at over 40% and solid D, plus a salary that doesn’t break the bank. Ash is well on his well to a top-4 squad. Ash adding a guy with elite rebounding, and a 56% efg at 4-point usage really isn’t what the rest of us want to see at this point. As I’ve stated before one sub-50D guy in this league is not an issue at all. Foul rate is a little high for Boozer, but at this point ash will not be missing many shots and will be rebounding like a beast down low, well on his way to being one of the favorites.

I love this pick. Just enough usage, tons of boards, can be pushed to 44 mpg or more in this league. Could be argued that Moses should always go #1 in this league. Quality pick by a top notch owner. Porter is a very good pick here. He has an excellent EFG%, very good assists and decent defense. Pretty low fouls and turnovers too. A higher usage PG may havebeen a better pick as Moses usage is good and not great. More points are needed. Boozer is a smart pick. He does things that Moses doesn't such as get assists. His weak defense will be problematic if this team ends up in the same division as seapilots copy cat team of thyard2's from last season. Boozer won't guard Karl Malone or Parish very well in those matchups. Webber adds a lot of something good to what already was great. Webber scores, gets assists and is okay on the boards since the team has Boozer and Moses. I just don't like having Porter and his less than 20% usage as the only guard picked so far. Ash is a lot better than I am in this league so I'll be careful not to get too down on this unit. The overall EFG is awesome. Rush adds even more EFG%, he makes a lot of 3's, plays 76 defense and is very clean regarding turnovers and fouls. I wish that there was more usage at the guard spots but ash is the expert in this league and not me. I get the feeling like this is a top 3 team or better right now. House and Alexander combine to be a perfect back up combo at PG behind Porter. They both play over 60 defense, shoot over 40% from three and don't foul too much or turn it over too much. Alexander is my favorite 2 usage point back PG up for 10 MPG right now. He has lower turnovers and fouls per 48 minutes than Charlie Ward, oh yeah and over 25% assists. If I were to nit pick I would say that more scoring in the back court is needed and perhaps more made freethrows are needed to seal the deal for the championship.

In a higher cap league I would have been critical of a Mailman pick here given what other players are still available, but at $47mill I think we are still at the “owner preference” stage where it’s pretty hard to make what should be deemed a “bad” selection. Completely agree with Vance that at this cap level, having the Mailman makes life a lot easier in trying to build a contending squad of players. A little early for the Chief but a guy that fits well with the Mailman. A couple of different version options to pick from here with the best shooting Parish being weak on D. My initial thought is that Parish may have been here in the 3rd round anyway, so I agree with Vance that a G may have been a better selection, let’s see what the 3rd round brings though before we have a general feel for this squad.Not positive which James Harden is planned here, the 11-12 58% efg player is a sub-50D player, the full version 12-13 Harden is a solid 64 on D but has an efg in Kobe’s neighborhood. With the Mailman and Parish I assume this is the high efg backup so early in the 3rd may be too early for this pick. Efg is strong so far and the MM/Parish combo can rebound, but I need to know more about the versions that are planned and see the next few picks before I can get a handle on this squad.

Vancem Take: Karl Malone, Robert Parish, James Harden, Andre Igoudala, Charles Oakley, Jon Barry, Juan Blair.I really like this pick. Fantastic usage and EFG% for this league, makes his FTs and shoots a ton of them, great defense as well. Very easy to build a contender from here on out now. Going to copy theyard2's success here from last season seapilots? Parish is a good pick here. Excellent EFG, good rebounding and plays a clean game. But waiting until round 3 to take your top guard may not be such a good plan this season. James Harden is a nice player in this league. Hopefully the remaining picks will be different than theyard2's moster squad from last season that barely beat my team in 7 playoff games and then crushed it's way to the title. I'm getting sick thinking about it. Iguodala is a good SG with 75 defense and over 19% assists and a very clean player. Oakley is the SF and rebounds and defends well for this team. This same starting 5 won the title last season so what's not to like. Barry is a good very high EFG% player to back up Harden. He makes 3's, gets about 19% assists and doesn't turn the ball over or foul much at all. A great fit. Juan Blair has 55 EFG%, over 20 usage and rebounds at around 35 CREB%. He plays 18 MPG and can back up both Parish and Malone. He does fouls a lot and his defense isn't steelar. This team will win tons of games and should be considered a top 4 team for sure. Malone will dominate most opponents and the supporting cast doesn't miss too many shots. But that's one reason why I took Walton, Humphries, and PJ Brown up front for solid rebounding and better defense than I had last season to combat teams like this one.

This is the first selection thus far in the draft where I’m kind of torn on whether or not Durant is a better pick than the other elite players that are still available (but maybe this is because I was REALLY hoping to land Duran myself at #12.) With his shooting range, rebounding from the G position, adequate D, unreal FTA to pf ratio and shooting accuracy Durant is another player in a low cap league that gives you a strong advantage over numerous teams coming out of the gate. Reed is another guy that IMO is not a great 2nd round selection because you just don’t get enough bang for the buck at his 90D $8.5mill salary version in the $47mill cap league. His rebounding is relatively low for a big and his 51.5% efg is just adequate for this league. He does fit nicely with KD, and his tov% is low at 11.72%, but the salary cap crunch is looming for this squad and the 3rd round pick is critical. Rondo and Josh Smith lead me to two different schools of thought when I look up and see three players on this roster with an “NA” for previous ODL draft positions; (1) smokey is missing the boat by taking players the rest of us have left undrafted in the past; or (2) smokey is exploiting the previous mistakes made in this league when it comes to player selection. Reality may be somewhere in the middle, one thing is for sure: smokey will have an original team in this league, there can be no doubt about that one. Rondo brings insane ast% with his 90D but also has a very high tov% and his efg does not help. Josh Smith also brings the heavy 90D or above but fouls his fair share and turns the ball over as well, but his rebounding from the SF position is solid. Smokey has given KD a guy to get him the ball, and solid D with above average rebounding, but he is also heavy on fouls and turnovers at this point. For now this team seems middle of the pack to me.

Vancem Take: Kevin Durant, Willis Reed, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, George Gervin, Larry Brown, Walt Simon.Dominant SG in this league. 1213 season is terrific offensively and on the defensive glass. Good job. Went 23rd or 24th last season and the owner (as in me) wasn't good enough to make it to the conference finals. That being said that team took theyard2's champs to a full 7 games in the playoffs and that was as tough or tougher than what any of the other teams did against them. So far so good for smokey. Let's see how this cat performs in what 98average calls the "Money Rounds". Reed is a nice choice. He scores well enough, rebounds well enough and defends pretty well too. Rondo is a good player here but I like some others better. I understand the salary concerns and that Rondo's assists, rebounds and defense are hard to pass up when you need a PG to compliment Durant. So far a very good team. Smith has excellent defense, okay rebounding, and very low 3 point percentage. I don't like his high usage and fairly low EFG% which hurts Durant's best strengths. This team will win some games on Durants greatness and on overall defense but I don't expect a contender. Gervin is one of the worst picks in the draft here if not the worst. Drafting Gervin here means that he is the starting SG and Durant is the starting SF. Then Josh Smith is the starting PF and Reed is the starter at C. This team will fail. The EFG% is too low, the usage is way too high and the offensive rebounding is extremely weak. Larry Brown as a back up to Rondo this was not a good choice. Brown shoots a very low FG%, turns the ball over as much as about any player you can find per 48 minutes in the SIM, and fouls a lot. He does get assists. Walt Simon has one season that I kind of like with 52 EFG and over 21 usage. But at 6.8 fouls per 48 minutes that season really isn't the best fit for this league.

Most guys that bring the level of D and rebounding that the Admiral does have either tov, draw/pf issues or more likely negatives in both areas OR they lack a significant positive impact on the offensive end. However, the Admiral is a super-clean player with a top-tier offensive game. He also offers great flexibility of season choice, which IMO is important early in the draft because you want as much flexibility as possible in the later rounds. Robinson has been going after a few guys that are still on the board in recent draft leagues, but IMO he absolutely belongs in the top-10 in this league, so this is a solid pick. Looks like a 100D theme to start this team. I’ll be honest though, while Jones brings a strong efg with his 100D at a salary that doesn’t bury you he is a foul and turnover monster. Yet another guy that likely could have been there in the 3rd round. I personally would love to see if the ultra-high D strategy works, but I’m not a fan of that strategy or this pick for the 2nd round. Curry and Person add a solid long range game to this squad, but I think early 3rd may be too early for Curry and his sub-50D, sub-par tov% just adequate ast% 12-13 season, even though he did break the all-time 3-point record. Person adds a clean game with solid D, but with these last two picks I kind of get the feel that is squad is without a solid “theme” and now has weaknesses across the board to go with its strengths. There is an inside-outside mix here, but when I compare this team so far to some of the others in the league right now I have to place it in the bottom half. Let’s see what the final three rounds bring, but they need to be “spot on” IMO to make this team a playoff contender.

Vancem Take: David Robinson, Bobby Jones, Stephen Curry, Wesley Person, Paul Silas, Bob Netolicky, Cazzie Russell.Very efficient, great offense and defense. The 55 EFG% and 100 defensive rating are great to get at # 9. Bobby Jones provides more defense, very high EFG% and is an all around good player. I like the pick but don't love it. Rebounding is sorely needed now. I prefer another defensive beast at SF a lot more than Jones here. Curry is a very good choice for offense and three's. A good pick here. Person has great EFG%, a ton of made 3's, and excellent defense. The overall rebounding is weak as a team and that will be its nemesis. It's going to take 2 more players that can really board at PF and at back up SF for this squad to be at the championship level. But it is still possible. The overall team defense is outstanding. Paul Silas I like except for his low EFG%. Great rebounding at SF, decent assists and great defense. As a back up to Jones he's okay but as a starting PF his rebounding is to low to give the help that the Admiral needs. Netolicky baffles me. I don't see a season where he makes the team better. Cazzie Russell looks like an okay player but I can't find a season that works here. He doesn't work behind the best season of person, if he takes the back up SF position minutes behind Jones his rebounding is a terrible weakness, and he can't back up Curry. The first 4 picks were pretty good. But the last 3 picks just don't seem to support the other 4's weaknesses and they don't provide much.

After the #8 pick in this draft my list for the #12 pick was narrowed to five players, and Bird was absolutely on the list of five. Top-level rebounding if used at G and adequate if used at SF, multiple 6-point usage 55%+ efg seasons to pick from with the option to go higher on boards, lower pf and to but lower on ast% or higher on ast% while losing some boards and picking up a few to’s and pf’s. Best season has very low 10.22% tov% and insanely low pf/rate of 0.53. Bird may have been behind a few guys that were there on my and other people’s draft boards, but this pick is not a “reach” by any means. Tar saw the type of player he wanted to build around this time and Bird is absolutely a guy that can help bring home an ODL title. Scary good start for tar with this squad, Manu completes the SG position while being able to backfill PG minutes or have Bird rollover some minutes to SF. Great shooting, adequate D, low tov%, boards from the G positions, low pf/rates with high draw rates and assists to boot. Yep, sure hoping tar is in the other conference for once at this point. Larry Nance and Mark Price keep the “super-clean” theme alive and well for Tar. IMO Nance is likely the cleanest 100D player in the entire sim, tov% below 7% and pf rate below .07 more than makes up for his light rebounding, that that’s if his D has around 80 or so, not 100. Had I not traded with Mikee I was going to select Price myself in the 4th and run with a 10 usage point backcourt for 48 minutes a game, looks like Tar may be trying the same. Price, NEVER, and I mean almost NEVER fouls with a pf rate under .04, his efg is high, he has a 50D+ season available with a nice efg, and his tov% is not a deal breaker at about 14%. All that remains for Tar now is more rebounding and since he has banked such an advantage with a low tov% and pf rate he can take almost any player that is left and it won’t even push him above the league averages in those categories. He also has all the usage at a high efg that he needs. As always, Tar is one of the elite teams to beat in the ODL.

A really good pick if you didn't like the bigs available. 55% EFG and we know that tarheel will most likely not use him at SF. In that case it can be argued that this is a better player at SG than Kevin Durant. Ginobli will be the SG, I think, and Bird will be the SF. If Ginobli is the PG and Bird is the SG than I would love to see it. This is getting me interested. Nance is a fantastic pick here if this was the $52 million league. I love the defense but all of the usage is costing a lot of salary. I would have prefered a cheaper choice with less usage and higher EFG% with better rebounding. Filling out the roster with quality players and drafting at least 19,300 minutes looks like a challenge. Price is a good choice here as a back up to Manu and Bird. But who are the bigs??? This team has potential and just might surprise me. Smith is a good rebounding low usage SF. He will either back up Nance or perhaps he and Pinkney will be the SF tandem. Pinkney is a great low usage SF with very good rebounding, good EFG% and low fouls and turnovers. Donaldson has very low usage that fits well here. He has very high EFG%, very low negative numbers, average defense and makes the FTAs that he gets. His rebounding is below average.Smith appears to be the only player with over 35 CREB% on this team and rebounding by committee is normally a bad idea. But if anybody can make it work tarheel can.

Superman is great in the ODL to build around (unless of course you try to draft around 18,500 minutes instead of 19,500 like 98 did last time to earn the #1 pick). In my first ODL back in season 40 I took him with the #7 pick and made the finals, so to get him at the #11 slot is a gift IMO. He has a number of great seasons to pick from on the 4-point and 6-point usage tiers. Elite rebounding, efg near 60% or higher and even though his pf/rate is a little high in some seasons he more than makes up for it with the number of fouls he himself will draw. Tov% is on the high side though for most seasons, so you have to be careful not to surround him with other high tov% guys or you can create a big issue for your team. Clearly Howard is a guy that can play the role of the primary option that leads a team to a title in the ODL. If Ray had not fallen Chandler would have been my own pick. So right now this squad had two 90D rebounders down low that don’t miss shots and draw fouls. But they also commit fouls and have high tov%’s. The tradeoffs are a net-positive IMO and this team is off to a great start. POST TRADE The trade krishnaman made with me may move him to the absolute front of the title chase IMO. Because I was able to get Deron Williams a round later than he should have gone, Krishnaman essentially traded a mid-2nd rounder and his last pick for another mid-2nd round player and a guy that generally goes in the mid to late 3rd round. So as of now he has a top-10 player, a mid-2nd guy, an early 3rd AND a mid to late 3rd, along with Faried who likely has 4th round value with his 12-13 season. Plus he still has his own pick in the 5th round and only needs one player in the 6th. The efg for this squad is off the charts, the D is solid, Stat’s weak rebounding is balanced by having Howard and Faried, the team can keep a near 60% or higher efg 6-point usage player on the court at all times, and Deron Williams and his mid-30ish ast% will keep the entire team at or near RL efg, plus Barry is a very clean sharp shooter that plays some D. The downside that is there right now is that the turnovers may be a little high and the frontcourt has a pretty high pf rate, but the draw rate is also very high and Stat does not miss many FTA’s. IMO the positives far outweigh the negatives for this squad right now, the cap is a little tight but not by too much more than the rest of us right now. Since I personally helped to build this juggernaut karma should dictate that I land in his division, but I’m REALLY crossing my fingers and holding my breath that I don’t at this point.

A very good pick. Rebounds a lot better than Shaq or Duncan and has 60% EFG. Fouls a lot for premier C and not a good free throw shooter. But he does get fouled a lot. Chandler is a decent choice here. I get the pick. High EFG%, good defense, very good rebounding etc. But this guy fouls a lot too. This team needs a player that can score, make his free throws and doesn't foul much, and gets assists. Will there be that type of player avaiable in round 3??? Barry is on of my favorites most of the time. The team EFG% is off the charts. A 4 usage point PG IMO would have been a better choice here.Deron Williams is really good PG here. Faried is a great SF who adds a lot of rebounds. Stoudamire is a high usage great EFG% player. The Howard/Stoudamire combo worked well enough for dh555 in the last $52 million league and not so well for slymonium in the current $52 milion league. This team is much more $52 Million than $47 million. I think that the bench players will either be terrible or that the team will be running on empty with just over 19K minutes drafted when its all said and done. Dalembert is a good player but I don't like the fit here. He fouls quite a bit. But he does give low usage and more rebounding when Amare is in the game and his defense isn't bad at about 60. Childs was a player I always liked even when he was at Boise State. He will fit okay behind Williams and Barry. He will get some dimes and he most likely is at the only salary that will fit.

Shaq is not a player I anticipated lasting until the #12 spot, but every team that passed on him did so because the player they selected better fit the style of team they are looking to build, so there really isn’t a team in the top-11 that I could say made a “mistake” by not taking him. Shaq is a double-edged sword to own, if you build off of his strengths then IMO you can compete for the title, but at the same time a few wrong decisions later in the draft and you can really butcher a team that has Shaq. I’ll post more about my Shaq selection and the strengths / potential issues he brings under my own name on page 3 or 4 of this forum. Really wanted to go Chandler or Mutumbo here and planned to all along as they fell, but I guarantee Tar would have grabbed Ray and a Ray/Bird combo would have been almost unstoppable in this league. We all know what Ray brings but the key for me was his tov% around 10%. Not only does Ray add outside shooting to complement Shaq he also keeps this team on track to dominate the TO battle. Other teams like eleibowitz and tar have proven in recent ODL’s that one sub-50D guy does not hurt you too much in the ODL as long as it is the “right” guy, IMO Ray is definitely the “right” sub-50D guy for this squad. So, with pick #12 I got about four slots in value, with pick #37 I got a guy that usually goes on the turn and 12 more slots in value, then with pick #60 I get a guy that has been going mid-2nd round, giving me about another 23 slots in value. Does it all fit together? Working on some possible trades right now and will update my own eval after I either make another deal or add a 4th player. POST TRADE Basically I was able to trade a guy that should have been a mid-2nd round pick in this league for another guy that actually was a mid-2nd and address some of the holes created by Shaq in the process. This was a trade that IMO helped both teams. I also moved down a bunch of spots with my remaining picks, but with Ray and Shaq the majority of players I'm after at this point rarely get drafted in the ODL, what I do at PG now becomes my burning question for this squad.

WTH nate getting early usage and at a high EFG%??? If wanted a big here with high usage Shaq is the man. In this league a very good pick here. Allen is by far a better player here than in the $52 million league. But can a player with 40 defense for over 40 mpg lead a team to a championship? I don't think so. Allen does shoot 3s extremely well and is a good compliment for Shaq. This is a good pick not a great one. I don't really like this trade much Giving up Deron Williams and getting Tyson Chandler back along with 4 picks in the 100 to 150 range makes no sense to me. The defese at the guard position looks to be pretty weak and so do the assists. Made free throws is also a team weakness. Nate's pulled off crazy moves before . . . but they haven't resulted in the championships that he so strongly desires. Without a great PG this team won't go the distance I'm afraid. Granger has one season I like at about 30 mpg but how does that fit here? I don't like Ray Allen as the backup PG with Granger at SG, and I hate Granger at SF. Granger's 29 usage at below 52 EFG% hurts Allen's and Shaq's touches. Walker is an assist man that really hits the defensive boards. He plays a clean game and has low usage. I understand the pick since the teams rebounding looks a bit mediocre. Reggie Evans is a great rebounder but a horrible defender. This team overall numbers will look good but it seems like something is missing that won't allow it to be a top 6 team. But nate's teams have done better than I have expected before. Bol plays great defense but doen't rebound well at all. One big weakness is Reggie Evans defense. He and Ray Allen will get torn up against the better teams in this league.

Sir Charles was the top player left on the board and #13 is actually lower than he has gone in any of the previous three ODL drafts (of course that was pre-12-13 Durant, but Barkley did go 9th overall in ODL 40.) Many, many great seasons to pick from with a large range of salary options, so there is a ton of flexibility with this pick, something that is great to have in a low cap league. Virtually all versions come with elite offensive rebounding and efg%. Very significant range in both tov% and pf/rate, but high FTA’s in almost every season. Barkley is the type of player you are very happy to get at #13, but need to wait and see what is available as you build the rest of the team before making a final decision on what version to use, this type of flexibility in the ODL is extremely valuable and allows you to make optimal decisions at many points during the remainder of the draft. Camby is an optimal pick to offset Chuck’s low D while keeping this team on track to be an elite rebounding and efg squad. Would love to think Sly is drop the ball in the 3rd, but that is highly unlikely, this team is on pace to be a championship contender. With Bynum and Reggie the beat rolls on for sly with this squad. Still in dire need of assists from a PG but I know that is just around the corner. The 11-12 Bynum gives you a strong efg, D above 50 which is a little light but does not kill you and adequate rebounding for a big that has a foul rate of 1/2 that of similar players, he is a great fit for this squad. Reggie adds range and more clean play. Now I want to see what is left at PG for sly, and I have an idea who he may target if I don't snag him myself in the 5th since I too am now in the market for one.

A very good pick. Barkley's flaws aren't as severe in the ODL compared to the dh555 $52 million league. I like the big boy version that can go over 40 mpg in this league. Camby adds defensive, more rebounding and is a very clean player. He also assists well. ASt close to 30 mpg he is a great fit along side of Barkley. Bynum is underated IMO. Nice pick. Very good EFG, solid rebounding and nice defense and over 23% usage. Bynum also doesn't turn the ball over or foul too much. McAdoo may have been too expensive but could have been pushed to 41 or 42 MPG. Bynum can go about 34 or 35 MPG max. Reggie Miller is a very good pick.Somebody tell me why Ray Allen always gets drafted so much higher in the ODL than Miller does? This is very good unit so far. A good PG is sorely needed still of course. I everything about Calderon exept for the fairly low defense. Great EFG%, fanatastic assists, and extremely low turnovers. The team will be trememdously effecient offensively. JR Smith a great scoring choice behind Miller. Adds 3's at a high EFG%. But about 35 more minutes are needed to back up Camby and Bynum with just one pick left. Jordan is a great pick behind Camby. He will get rebounds, play pretty good defense and has a very high EFG%. He is a poor mans Tyson Chandler. This would be a top 4 contender for sure if the starting guard's defense wasn't averaging less than 50. The offense is so good though that its possible the team will win 30 or more home games because of the SIMs built in homecourt advantage.

I’m sure later in the draft Vance and I will find our disagreements and we can finally get into the point-counterpoint format that was planned for these evals, however our various opinions about this Tim Duncan selection is not something we disagree on. I did win my division with Duncan three seasons ago in the Dh$52 league, but I took him with the #26 overall pick, NOT the #14. The good news with Duncan is that he has a few 100D seasons, he has some solid shooting seasons, and he has some really strong rebounding seasons, the REALLY bad news is that they are NOT in the same season. So, no matter which version of Duncan you end up deciding to take you will have to make some level of sacrifice in a key area of the game. Of course there is plenty of time left in the draft and Duncan is a very good player and can really help a team, but locking into him this early means the next selection needs to be right on or this team will be trying to climb out of a hole for the final-5 selections of the draft. Brand is a strong player and as Vance points out gives this squad a great start on D. But like other players and other squads being built here Brand also takes a lot of salary and building a team in a $47mill cap league is VERY different from building one in a $52mill cap. The next pick for this squad needs to be a value pick or IMO it will have a difficult time making minutes if the best versions of the players selected are utilized. The addition of Joe D and Mo Cheeks keeps the elite D theme alive and well for this squad.This is another team where I'd like to know what versions are planned prior to giving a final grade, as I see a very serious issue with the cap here. Not sure there is a strong enough mix on offense right now to contend, but steelers can help me out by sharing his plan.Once I know that I will take a longer look at this team to give it a more accurate grade.

A bit high for some unless starting with a big man is what you wanted to do and didn't like the small options available. However, there were more dominant smalls available at their positions than TD is at his position in this league. Can easily be built around though and who doesn't need a 100 defensive player that can also score? I actually wanted TD at # 23 before dh555 could get him darn you steelers! Brand is a good choice here. Great defense, solid rebounding but not great.I like the defensive vibe so far. Dumars is a very useful player here. It appears that the 18.9 usage, 53 EFG% version is what will be used. Dumars makes a lot od 3's, has extremely low negative numbers and plays very good defense. Cheeks is a clean low usage player with fantastic defense. Cheeks also adds assists. Rebounding is needed. More usage at guard is needed. I like the 24% usage Dumars except for the 50 EFG% of that season. However, the defensive vibe and clean play of this team will make it tough to beat. If Ed Davis is the starting SF making Brand the starting PF I hate this pick. As a back up I really like the pick. Davis rebounds well at SF especially offensively. I would have prefered a better player at the PF position taken here. Dale Davis is one of my favorites and if I would have taken him in round 5 over Kris Kardashian the entire draft would be finished by now. Davis provides offensive rebounds, 77 or 84 defense depending on the seasons I like being picked, and about 56% EFG. He doesn't turn it over and his fouls per 48 minutes are as low as 4.5 for the season I like. Chalmers is a decent back up at both guard spots. He isn't excellent at anything but he isn't bad at anything. Good EFG%, okay assists, solid defense, and he makes 3's. The team seems to be a tad light on the defensive boards and the overall EFG% for the top 3 scorers isn't great. The defensive will be the strength of this team and it will be pretty darn good.

Coming into the draft I was targeting either Durant or Paul with the #12 pick, Durant was long gone and I decided that I simply could not pass on Shaq, but at #15 Chris Paul is the type of player that gives tang at least a fighting chance in his “best record between the two us this season” bet he has riding with me. Paul doesn’t give you quite the season flexibility of some the guys selected before him and had I taken him I had my choice narrowed down to his most expensive season or one that cost a little less that was actually better in a few areas. Tang starts with a 90D PG, who is likely to lead the league in assists and can be the catalyst for a high-scoring uptempo offense. Paul can’t do it all alone, but in terms of the best pure PG I agree with Vance that Paul is at the top of the list. Marshall is solid, brings great D and rebounding from the SF position, also has range and a very low tov%, doesn’t pass but that isn’t needed at all when you have Chris Paul on your team. A tad on the expensive side as well, but tang is off to a start that concerns me regarding my bet with him, hoping he tanks in the 3rd. Uncle Buck and Okafor are two more solid picks for tang. Buck shoots a very high efg, plays strong D and boards, but he is a foul monster.. Okafor also brings a very high efg as well and solid all-around rebounding, his game also is not super-clean but he also fits quite well for this squad. Shaq and the other bigs in this league will get fouled a ton by this frontcourt. Neither Buck nor Okafor pass, but once again Paul takes care of that all by himself. This team is VERY solid right now, and I guess my only three questions are: (1) Who passes the ball when Paul is out (likely to be answered with a backup PG); (2) Can Paul reach his own RL efg if no one else on the team can pass; and (3) will foul issues cause this team more problems that it thinks it will? Right now tang looks like he will give me a serious run for my money on our bet.

Vancem Take: Chris Paul, Donyell Marshall, Buck Williams, Emeka Okafor, Terrel Brandon, Gerald Wallace, Roy Tarpley.
Positionally dominant at PG. Plays a very clean game, 90 defense, great assists. Was he the best PG available. . . maybe. But for my taste the high defense and low turnovers make this the best choice at the PG position. Marshall is a one of a kind player that fits well with Paul. Great defense, defensive rebounding at SF, and makes a lot of 3s. Very low negative numbers. Excellent work so far tang! I like Buck here. This is a $47 million league and higher usage more expensive bigs would have crippled the teams bench. Great EFG%, solid defense, decent usage and very good rebounding. Offense rebounding was needed and Buck does that very well. Okafor was a really great pick. He adds very good defense, solid EFG%, good rebounding and pretty low fouls for about 30 MPG. It feels to me like this team needs a 4 usage point SG to compliment Paul very badly. Brandon may work well enough when Paul moves over to SG. The team needed offensive usage and got it. Assists are now really good, the defense at guard is excellent and so are the low turnovers and fouls. Tang's teams baffle me at times but he does know enough to draft great defensive players and that note is not lost on me. This unit may make a playoff push and upset some people. But that's tang's MO too LOL. If Wallace will be used to either back up both Paul and Marshall at 11 to 12 MPG at each position I like this pick. But even the 22 to 23 MPG version of Wallace seems too expensive for this team. If Wallace is used at 10 to 11 mpg per game to back up Marshall or Paul only I like the pick. In general I don't like the Tarpley pick. Tarpley adds a lot of fouls and pretty low EFG%. He does rebound very well and defend. This team is still very good.

I don’t want to be overly harsh with anyone but as I have noted above the average draft position for the Big-O in the last three ODL drafts is 30.3. The problem is that if you look at his real life numbers and think you could EVER get anything even close to that in the sim then you are making a mistake. The reason for this is “normalization” by the sim engine. When Oscar won Rookie of the Year there were 8 teams in the NBA and they played 79 games that year. To give you an idea how CRAZY things were back then you really only need to know ONE statistic: the average rebounds per game per team was 73.28 that season. That’s 146.56 boards on average each game, the sim engine generates around 100 a game for this league, that means that over 31% of the rebounds from RL that season can NEVER be obtained in the sim. The rest of the stats are not quite as drastic, but you will find that you just cannot fit the pace of the NBA from the early 1960’s into the sim engine, and that’s exactly why the advanced statistics drive the majority of what we see here and is where everyone’s focus should be when evaluating players. In the 1st round this team took a player with an average draft position of the mid-2nd, then in the 2nd round took a player with an average draft position of the beginning of the 3rd. Hakeem like the Big-O costs A LOT, so this team is WAY, WAY behind on the cap right now. Personally, I’d consider using the $5mill half-season of Hakeem, still gives you the 100D and with the right guy can complete the C position and not destroy your cap. The 3rd round is more important for this team than almost any other in the draft IMO, take another player a round too early that you really can’t afford and you’ll earn a “toast” label from me. Petro and Wally World, well on the bright side I LOVED watching these guys in RL. Petro can shoot, but gives you nothing else in the sim and kills you on D, Wally can shoot as well, and plays a clean game, but has the same problem as Petro and KILLS you on D. Hakeem's 100D is not enough to make up for two sub-50 D guys, honestly at this point 20 wins for this squad would surprise me.

Vancem Take: Oscar Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Drazen P., Wally Sz., Brian Grant, Andrei Kirenko, Eddie Jones. I like the pick if Oscar is used correctly. He can play 46 plus minutes in this league. 23% usage, about 55% EFG, great rebounding at the PG position and defends well enough. However, the turnovers are high as are the fouls per 48 minutes. Based on iccoachb's 52 million draft strategy last time this may be wasted pick. Olajuwon is a bad fit here. Too much usage at about 50 EFG% and too many fouls and turnovers per 48 minutes. Oscar turns it over a lot and fouls a lot so this pairing is not good. One more high usage player added to the mix and the season is over already for this unit. Petrovic may have a place in this league. But his fairly high rate of fouls per 48 minutes along with less than 40 defense will be bad for this team. I liked alot of other PGs a lot better here. Petro's assists are really low too for what this team needed. Wally Szerbiak's poor defense along with very low rebounding numbers at SF will be enough to put the nail in the coffin for this unit. Brian Grant adds some boards and plays some defense but his best season has 47.9 EFG% and I lked a couple of other PFs a lot better. But that fact that this pick had the right usage, good defense and fairly low negative numbers shows a big improvement in iccoaccb's strategy. Andrei Kirilenko adds defense and very low negative numbers. As an SF he's a great role player except for his mediocre rebounding and fairly low EFG%. I like the attention to defense with this pick. Eddie Jones is a great pick if he's the starter to run with Oscar. I recommend usaing the 55 EFG% version of Jones that had the 84 defense and the extremely low turnovers. Overall this was a much improved draft for iccoachb. The team has top ten backcourt.

A Gilmore/ Penny start is extremely strong out of the 17th slot. Tov% is just a tad high and a lot of salary cap has been used, also will need some three’s later, but these two really balance out each other very nicely and both bring 80D or better and the efg start is in the elite tier. Badja won’t need to surprise people with this team being good, we all already KNOW it has started that way. Pau Gasol and Nick Anderson are both VERY clean players that address the weaknesses of Gilomre and Penny, Gasol brings down the fouls and keeps the efg high while Anderson adds the much needed range and keeps both fouls and turnovers down. This team may be a tad light on D right now, but I love the balance badja has going, and after his team has surprised in the DH$52 I think we all have learned not to discount one of his teams, with this mix I'd say this team is a solid contender right now.

Vancem Take: Artis Gilmore, Penny Hardaway, Pau Gasol, Nick Anderson, Blake Griffin, Jim Les, Roddy Beaudois.A great pick if going big to start was the plan. A couple of good seasons to use. Really good defense and rebounding. The EFG% is very good. The 22.5 usage season should be considered but I prefer the lower usage season. Easy to build around too. Hardaway is a nearly perfect pick here. The 25.5 usage, 57% 2 point percentage, and 83 defense at close to 40 mpg in this league are all stellar. This team will contend with more picks of this quality.Pau Gasol. I love this pick to go up front with Gilmore. Gasol plays an extremely clean and efficient game. I really love the 71 defensive season at close to 40 mpg in this league. Nick Anderson. I love this pick too. Anderson has very good to excellent EFG%, very good defense, good assists, and good rebounding. Oh and a ton of 3's made as in over 160. This is my favorite team right now. This may be crazy but I recommend using the higher defense versions of both Gasol and Anderson. I don't like Griffin at SF because IMO his usage is too high and thus he's too expensive. Plus, Griffin's 46 defense takes away from the overall great vibe that the team had going. A lower usage player at SF with great defense and great rebounding would have made more sense. Les is a decent back up to Anderson with high EFG% and low usage with a lot of made 3's. Roddy B is a really good back up to Penny but his lack of assists and high fouls are minor weaknesses. Not in love with the last 3 picks but the team is solid enough to still win the whole thing if the salaries can be worked out . . . but I doubt they will. This looks like a 19K minute team that will also end up with some very poor bench players.

D Wade is an elite closer in the sim, and his 100D shuts down the other team’s guards. But this is a pretty early selection of Boerwinkle here for a guy that doesn’t even give you 30mpg and is a foul monster. I know he adds elite rebounding but his 60D is just enough to get by, his ast% like a PG should help give D Wade an efg bump, but having two players under 51% efg means better shooting is a must in the later rounds for this team to be a contender. Not a fan of adding KJ here but Noah seems to fit well. If you go with the KJ over 50D then the efg is down at 52% with no range, he does give Wade a nice 31% ast% guy but a backcourt devoid of range in this league does not generally play out very well, and if you take the 54% efg handful of triples version of KJ then you go sub-50 on D, neither version kills you on to's but neither does anything to reduce them either, so I'm not a fan of that pick here. Noah is a strong player that can offer a solid D, efg and rebounding from the SF, but right now I'm just not a fan of this squad for D Wade, I think the team efg is too low and the D is too weak to be considered an elite team right now.

Wade is an unstoppable force at times in this league. Lots of missed FG attempts and that will need to be addressed. The 100 defense and around 35% usage are tremendous. A very good choice. Boerwinkle is a very good pick here. Great rebounding and assists. The 61 defense is pretty good.This could be a great team with a few more good picks. But Marcus Camby may have been a better choice. Johnson has a great season to pair up with Wade and provides great assists. Noah plays a clean game and adds rebounding and defense. This is a strong team so far but IMO a big man that can score is still needed to balance out the offense. Willis seems to actually be a good fit here. Great rebounding and especially on the offensive end which is really needed to make this team work. If an owner drafts D Wade without getting huge amounts of OREB% the team is dead. This starting 5 will cause a lot of problems. Of course there will be problems for this unit whenever Wade and Willis combine for 15 for 40 from the field and it will happen! Oden adds some boards and 8.7 fouls per 48 MPG as a backup to Boerwinkle. Peja was a very smart choice. He kills it from 3 and has over 4 usage points. Peja also plays a clean game. D Wade can back up KJ and then Peja could play over 20 mpg at the SG position. A very interesting team that could surprise.

Lucas is an elite player in the sim, and Wallace is one of the best bang for the buck guys you can take in round 1. The 100D of Wallace is EXACTLY what is needed with Lucas, my own Lucas team from two seasons ago had a 100D guy and made the finals, so I KNOW this team has put two pieces in place that could lead it to a championship. Boards are off the chart and Lucas gives you clean play and an elite efg, plus his only negative has already been offset by Big Ben. Usage can always be drafted later when a team starts with this combo. Kobe and Ward are just what this team needed. Not sure which Kobe or Ward is planned. I used the 6-point usage Kobe with Pierce and Howard in ODL 40 to make the finals, I used the 39% usage Kobe last season and he led the league in scoring but I fell to felonius in the playoffs. Lucas and Wallace are PERFECT for Kobe, this is Kobe's team, and he can seriously carry you in the ODL. Yes, he will miss a ton of shots, but he does not foul and his tov% is very low, plus this squad had plenty of boards and D and clean play from the other players. Not sure if you plan to use the full version of Ward or the backup minutes, I guess that will depend on whether you take another PG. I'm pretty sure Kobe won a division in ODL 41 for evil as well, so he has three playoff appearances, two division titles, two scoring titles and a finals appearance in the last three ODL's, hard to imagine he won't be in for another solid run with Big Ben and Lucas as his help, NO WAY do I want to be in a conference with this squad.

Vancem Take: Ben Wallace, Jerry Lucas, Kobe Bryant, Charlie Ward, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Larry Sanders. A good pick here but a ton more usage is needed. Great rebounding and defense for about 38 to 39 mpg in this league. Very low fouls and turnovers. Lucas adds clean play and has nice advanced numbers. His around 50 defense weakens the front line in that area. The 18.5 usage season is most likely the one to use. I don't like the sub 40 mpg season with the 16.5 usage to pair up with Wallace at all. A lot more offense is needed badly. Kobe adds the offense that was needed, dimes, rebounds and defense. His low EFG% isn't so bad in this league. Ward's 15 usage season at PG is great to run with Kobe. Ward has great defense, very good assists and good EFG% and surprisingly good rebounding. This team may contend. I would liked it a lot better though if either a 2 usage or 4 usage point player would have been added at an EFG% at around 55, if possible at some point in the draft, to balance out Kobe's lower EFG%. I really like Bosh as the starting SF here for just over 30 MPG. Very good EFG%, okay rebounding, good defense and very low negative numbers at just over 22% usage and at 4 usage points. This was an expert level pick. Melo as a back up to Kobe is pretty good. The over 30 usage is needed to keep the overall usage up when Kobe isn't in the game. That was a smart pick. Larry Sanders has 92 defense, good rebounding and will be the perfect back up for Wallace and Lucas. I love this team but finding solid backups for Bosh and Ward will be difficult at this salary level. This team is pretty clean and has a good defensive balance. This is my sleeper team for the final 4.

I detest playing teams with shut-down perimeter D in this league, so I REALLY hope this squad ends up in the other conference. The Dr J pick was a little early, but I really like the trade felonius made and putting Mookie in the back court with the Dr is a great fit IMO. Daniels also adds elite rebounding to this squad with the Dr advantage. A little light right now on efg and a lot of cap space is gone, but I see the plan that is going on here and I don’t want to have to face this squad 8 times. Marques is a guy that generally gets drafted by WIS veterans, really helps the efg at 56%, plays solid D, does kill you on fouls and boards well for a SF. My issues with this squad right now are: (1) I see a lot of usage; (2) I don't see any dominate inside game; and (3) seems like you are running out of cap space in a hurry to get enough minutes. If felonius has decided on seasons then I'd ask that he please sm me so I can see how it all fits together and I can take a long look after the next three picks so I can give this squad an accurate grade.

Vancem Take: DR J, Mookie Blaylock, Mel Daniels. Marques Johnson, Anthony Mason, Marcin Gortat, Jason Richardson, Very few players do more for their teams. I really like the 54% EFG season that can be pushed to 35 or 36 minutes. Awesome defense and rebounding at SG. Another season that is similar to D Wade season could be used for over 40 minutes per game but with less assists. Really good pick. Mookie is a great pick here. A very clean player, he takes a ton of 3s, and he plays very good defense. Mel Daniels well I just like the fact that you can push him to close to 40 mpg in this league with over 40 CREB%
Shoots a lot of FTAs, plays 61 defense and has over 51 EFG%. A very good pick especially for the OREB%. Johnson adds rebounding, good scoring and good defense for about 35 MPG. This team is sneaky good and might make a playoff run. Mason at PF might work here. Marques and Julius and Mel provide enough rebounding at their positions to make this work. Mason, Johnson and Blaylock all play extremely clean games. Gortat will do okay behind Daniels. He has high EFG% and solid defensive rebounding but his defense is weak. Richardson is a nice fit behind Dr J and Marques Johnson. He plays a very clean game for a player with over 21% usage and he makes a ton of 3's. He is a horrible rebounding SF and doesn't shoot many FTs. But this team smells like a playoff team to me anyway.

Locking down two role players this early is generally a good move this close to the turn in this league because you KNOW that usage will still be there later in the draft. Russell gives you huge minutes of elite rebounding without getting in the way on offense, Marion gives you a very clean player with D and range. I’m sure eleibo will add the right usage guys in the coming rounds and maintain the contender status that he has every season in this league. Pierce and Payton areboth solid additions to this squad. Pierce is an ABSOLUTE STEAL at pick #69, that's more than a full round past where he has gone in the previous three ODL's, the 11-12 version that eleibowitz plans to use is the same one I drafted with the #42 pick in ODL 40 and made the finals, he will outperform his RL stats and give you more long range numbers as well. IMO this is a product if his fga/min ratio in RL, and he will stay close to his 55% efg now that he has Payton to get him the ball. Payton is a solid PG for this team, which now has solid D all-around and great outside to mid-range shooting. My two concerns for this team now are: where will the inside scoring come from, and how much cap space is left to build the rest of the team? How eleibowitz answers these two questions with his last three picks will determine just how elite this team will be. This team is still very much a contender unless it flubs getting enough minutes the rest of the way.

Vancem Take: Bill Russell, Shawn Marion, Paul Pierce, Gary Payton, Swen Nater, Michael Redd, Michael Bradley.Was used well last season. The 43% EFG even at less than 15% usage is a bit of a buzz kill. But at 46 mpg plus here you get tons of rebounds, especially defensive, and good defense and very good assists. Plus, is 100% at C or PF. Players that can play over 40 mpg are so valuable here. A good choice based on the bigs left. Marion is a good fit here. Very high EFG%, good rebounding at SF and plays a clean game. However, a lot more offense is now needed. This could be a really good team. I recommend looking at the higher usage season which is 98% effective at SF. Pierce adds a ton of 3s, assists and rebounds very well defensively at SG. Payton plays a clean game. This team would be a great $52 million team with the addition of a high EFG% big man. I don't see the best seasons of all of these players being used because of the salary crunch. However, all of these players have multiple seasons that can be used effectively in this league. Very curious to see the remaining picks.This team will miss alot of shots even with the very good assist percentages. Nater is an awesome rebounder. His defense is terrible. I like this pick. The overall team defense is stll very good. Nater I believe will be playing either 32 or 24 mpg depending on the season. If Redd's 28 MPG season can fit salary wise I love this pick. The 17 MPG season is also good. Ton's of 3's, rebound's well at SG and doesn't turn the ball over. Also the EFG% is either 55 or 56 so you have to love that. This is a steal pick. Bradley is the low minute type of player that you basically have to have in this league if have drafted quality in the previous rounds. His EFG% is okay, his rebounding is pretty good. His low turnovers and fouls that are less than 5 per 48 minutes are a nice fit though. I like this team.

Personally I just have not been able to get the suspect efg of KG to work for me in any league yet. He and Pippen do bring a solid all-around game but both also are a drag on efg. D is elite though and both can pass the ball. The next two picks will give me a feel on whether or not this team can compete for a playoff spot. Ibaka and West continue to bring the D for this team. Not sure if coach will go with the 100D 11-12 Serge or the higher efg% more expensive more minutes 12-13 98D version. West is underrated in this league and I rode him to the finals two seasons back, he really is Kobe lite. Looking to be one of the top 2 or 3 defensive teams in the league at this point, has some assists with KG, Pippen, and West, but I think more assists are still needed to keep players at their RL efg's. And right now efg is still low for this league when you see multiple teams already over 55% and this team is closer to the 51-52 range. IMO the jury is still out until the last three picks for this squad, right now leaning towards middle of the pack because of the efg disadvantage, but I could be wrong and the D might make up for non-elite shooting. At least this team has been very consistent with its selections and will be an interesting case study in how far D can carry you in the ODL.

A great SF especially taken so low in the draft. Less than 51% EFG could hurt a little bit. However, the 90 defense and over 18% assists are big assets. Very low TOs and Fouls. This looks like a great pick. Pippen is a fine choice. Great D, excellent rebounding and assists at SG. I prefer the season with 150 3's made. So far the team looks to be very tough. Ibaka has great defense and good rebounding at SF. West adds scoring and defense. Defense alone makes this team very good. This may be a sleeper team to watch out for. Rollins keeps the high defesive theme alive. I like the low usage and 55% EFG. But over 7 fouls per 48 minutes is a bag thing. Irving at about 24 MPG can play behing West and Pippen. He adds usage and 3's and assists. Lee's 21 MPG season fits like a glove behind Rollins. Great EFG%, very good rebounding and fairly low fouls and he makes his FTAs. This could be a top 4 team if the defense is good enough to nullify the opponents FG%. Not having any 55% EFG players at 4 usage points or higher hurts this team.

Magic this late is a gift IMO, Walton this early may be a serious reach, but there was zero % chance he’d be around in the 3rd. Love the rebounding and D you start off with here, Walton is one of the best dreb% guys in the sim, but his minutes are a little short. Magic is always a threat for a triple-double with his elite rebounding at the G position. However, tov% could be a REAL serious issue for this squad, better get that under control with the next few picks or I could see this team north of 20 to’s almost every game. Mullin and Sabonis are two guys that have slipped through the cracks in recent ODL's but that should not have. Both bring amazing efg to this squad, Mullin does not foul, Sabonis fouls but also has great rebounding and range from the C position, he is a near ideal player to complete the C minutes with Walton. Not positive which Mullin Vance intends to use, assuming the 60% efg though. Turnovers issue still remains for this squad, but now Vance has Magic and three guys with double-digit ast% to boot, not an insane ast% but enough that we should expect his entire team to meet or exceed RL efg, this will be one of the best scoring teams in the league and will compete for 50+ wins.

Never used him and actually wanted him over Durant in the last ODL draft. I love the assists, good defense, good EFG% in this league and the rebounds at the PG position. Walton would never had made it back to me in round 3. 93 defense, great defensive rebounding, very good assists, and over 20% usage. But just 30 mpg max in this league. Its a gamble taking big Bill this high. Mullin adds points, assists, and very high EFG% at over 24 usage. Sabonis is a really good back up to Walton with a very unique statitical profile for a big man at 21 minutes per game. 57% EFG, CREB% 36, 9% assists, makes 3's and have 25.5 usage. He also has high fouls and high turnovers. I agree with nate this team will score a lot of points. One of my secrets in this league is to find players that I like and then take them a round or so earlier than what they previously were to help ensure that I will get them. Waiting for a great player to drop to the same draft position that they somehow fell to last season is a poor strategy. Humphries is an examle of a player that went too low. He has great defensive rebounding, decent EFG%, 17.5% usage, and low fouls and turnovers for 48 MPG along with decent defense. This team will turn it over a lot so the extra defensive rebounds are needed. PJ Brown. This dude is a steal in the 6th round as a poor man's version of AC Green.In this league he's great. Good rebounding, 70 defense, good EFG, makes his FTAs, and very low turnovers and low fouls. Mark Landsberger is a board hoader at 19 MPG. 2 usage points and EFG% over 51. I really like this team overall but if dh555 who drafted behind me can make his pieces fit than he will have a top 3 team and mine will be lucky to be in the top 6. But the overall high rebounding, very good EFG%, along with tons of FTAs and plenty of assists should keep this team into the 2nd round mix of playoff teams.

Kidd/McHale combo to start only leaves rebounding to be desired at this point, and I’m sure DH will load up on that in the next two rounds. It will be interesting to see how much usage DH pushes to McHale, having a guy with an efg over 60% a low foul rate, tov% at 11% that plays 90D AND has Kidd in the backcourt is a very scary start to this team. Ho is a great addition to this squad and a REAL steal at pick #72, I gave him a very long look myself at #60 because he adds solid D, boards great for a SF, has a decent draw to pf ratio and has a very low tov%. McAdoo is overlooked sometimes in this league because the only season that you can really use at this cap level is the 73D $9.4mill salary one, but his efg% is over 55% and he is not a foul monster and doesn't kill you on to's while giving you adequate dreb. This squad is very light on the offensive glass because Ho can't do it all by himself, but with such a strong efg and not many negatives above average it looks like DH has himself a solid playoff contender. The only question that remains for me is: does DH have enough cap space left to hit at least 19,300 minutes?

Easy player for dh555 to build around. Great EFG%, rebounding, assists and defense. Hope that he doesn't shoot too many 2 pointers though. If I hadn't ever used Magic before I would have taken Kidd. Mchale is a great pick to pair with Kidd. Great defense, Fantastic EFG%. I love this start. Grant was the perfect pick here and others should have taken him. I understand the McAdoo pick and perhaps with a great rebounding sg added later in a $52 million league this pick would work out well. This team is pricy. The players are all fantastic picks where they were taken and dh555 is an expert owner. The team EFG% is supreme, the defense is great and balanced. The overall efficiency is swaying me to say that this team will challenge for the division title at least. The players make all be gassed at the end of the season. Frazier was a steal here. Great defense, good rebounding, nice assists and very good EFG% at this point in the draft. If any team can win without a 6 usage point offensive monster this is it. If the bench isn't too weak this team will be great! Earl Watson is about a perfect back up fo Kidd. High EFG%, gets assists, makes 3's and has okay defense. Ruffin is a good back up SF to Horace Grant. Of course his fouls per 48 minutes are horrific. But if this team can get close to 19,300 minutes some how it will be one of the top 2 or 3 the teams to beat. This is a really cool team and really am looking forward to seeing how well it does in league play.

Nate Group # Explanation

I (Nate) have placed the 24 teams into four separate groups (kind of like Dh’s 1-5 star system in his league). There of course are still many unknowns such as what 5 non-exclusive players are added and what division each team ends up in that will impact each team’s performance. I will provide a predictions thread once all of the teams are loaded into the league and assigned to a division. For now here is what each group # means:

Group #1: These are the six teams that if I were forced to place a bet on the league champion that I would be most likely to select. These teams should all be playoff contenders and are most likely to capture at least 2-3 (maybe even all 4) of the 4 division titles as long as they don’t end up in the same division.

Group #2: These six teams are a cut above at least half of the league and should all be in the chase for a playoff spot. One or two could capture a division title, but these teams are just not as solid as the six above them.

Group #3: These six teams are IMO in the bottom half of the league. If one of these teams wins a division title I will be VERY surprised. Two or three of these teams may compete for a playoff spot if they end up in a favorable division, and three or more of these teams will find themselves with win totals in the 30’s. These teams are FAR more likely to lose 50 games than to win 50.

Group #4: These are the six teams that if the bet were reversed and I had to pick the worst team then I’d grab a team from this group. There is a chance that maybe one of these teams makes the playoffs, but I would be shocked if two or more made it. IMO these six teams are all very likely to have a losing record.

Here is a short list of what he brings: 60.3% efg, 56.5 FG%, over 100 triples at 40%+ at 30.4 usage this may make him the best “go to” high usage player in the sim. 90D, 535 RL FTA’s and only 110 fouls in 2877 minutes giving him a super-low foul rate of .038 (remember you shoot for under .080 and he is less than ½ that) and a FTA to PF ratio of 4.86 to 1. He also can play four positions at 100% effectiveness, brings an ast% of 24.2% and he is a great rebounding guard at 4.2orb% and 19.1dreb%. His tov% is also well below the league average at 12.45%

Here is the real kicker with LeBron, if you know what you are doing and build around him properly you can get a whole lot more out of him than just the above, and 98 has been here long enough that I’m sure he will fully maximize LeBron.

In the OL I just finished here is what LeBron gave me compared to RL: 2701 points compared to 2036 in RL, that’s over 8ppg above RL, (and at 33.8ppg yes, he won the scoring title). He shot 1104/1839 for a 60FG% up from 56.5% and that’s 485 more shots and 339 more baskets than RL, he was 146/328 from three for 44.5% up from 103/254 40.6% in RL. His 583 assists were up from 551 in RL for a 7.3 apg average, he also had 172 steals up from 129; 96 blocks up from 67, was 77.1% from the stripe on 450 FTA’s. As all players in the Sim his boards were down a bit, but he still had 574 of his 610 in RL for 7.0rpg.

His fouls were also exactly where they should have been at 108 of 110 in RL. Because of the additional usage and uptempo his Tov% did jump to 15.58% up from his RL 12.45% resulting in 150 more than RL and a 4.7 tov/g average, but this is unavoidable when you over-use a high usage player in uptempo. His efg ended up being 64% and I used him for 2953 minutes.

Of course there is better D here than in an OL, so 98 may not get production on the same level as I did, but if he builds the right team then LeBron gives him a starting advantage that really is like no other player in the sim.

I mentioned my OL team and LeBron’s scoring title, well that team also had the 66-67 Wilt and he took home the MVP. I attempted to maximize Wilt along with LeBron by assuring that Wilt was the 2nd or 3rd highest usage player on the court for me at all times. The end result was a scoring average of 26.9ppg; 15.9rpg; 6.7apg; 4.2bpg; and 1.9pfg. Wilt was 991/1340 from the floor for an efg of 74.0%, it was quite the ride having LeBron at an efg of 64% and Wilt at 74%. Of course it’s a little harder to get a high efg usage guy in this league to pair with Wilt, but he can complement almost anyone.

The other thing that might be worth considering is going with the 61-62 Wilt. With the 66-67 version you only have two usage points locked up, but the 61-62 Wilt gives you 48mpg of 8-point usage. I used that Wilt in an open league with the goal of trying to get him to 50.0ppg. He ended up with 50.4ppg and I made the finals. I was careful to draft 11 low usage guys to go with Wilt. His RL efg that year is only 50.6, but I got it over 53% in the sim. If I ever win the lottery and LeBron is gone then I’d try the 61-62 version one time here. Since you don’t need usage you can cherry pick players that offer things like 3’s, D and boards but have little usage, these players are FAR cheaper than the usage guys and it is a cakewalk to make minutes with this Wilt as a centerpiece.

Vancem again. You may be right ash. 2 seasons ago I won the $52 million league with Wilt. Sixernuggets won the last season in that league by following my basic formula. In this league it harder to get the high enough quality usage to make that idea work IMO. But I'm sure that you could do it. BTW were you taking a shot at 98average for not taking Wilt at #1 here?